Birthright citizenship countries

This is not to say that the push to change the policy isn't unduly influenced by prejudice or irrational xenophobia, but I don't opposed the change itself and I think adjusting policy to the realities of the current century is normal and should be done for more things (as the founders originally intended).

I want preface this by saying I am not a Elon defender. The guy has literally has purchased a close access to the Presidency.
But it is strange the left is hung up on his "weird" Nazi salute. If you watch the video it is typical of awkward energy.
No one has pointed out what was the Nazi part of his speech preceding his speech.
While everyone on the left is exclusively talking about that there is literally no out rage at the real damage coming through the EO. Namely

• end of birthright citizenship
• declaring biological fact of male and female essentially wiping out trans right
• pardoning of 1500 J6ers
• tariffs on Canada and Mexico

Instead they are seething at the idiot in the rally. Right down to AOC berating the ADL as bending the knee towards Nazis
This is Puerto Rico joke all over again

This is my first time typing here, but I desperately need advice or suggestions on how to get the hell out of this burning country and distance myself from my family.
I would like to know what I should expect, how to be respectful to the culture (so I don’t look like a tourist), how much I need to save up so I can move, how to get citizenship/duel citizenship, and where I can look to live comfortably. I was originally gonna put England and France, but my British friends and French friends said that things aren’t looking good there either. And I heard Denmark is amazing with LGBTQ+ citizens
Any advice I’ll take, I just want to live in a place where I can be safe and don’t feel like I need to be on guard 24/7

[FWI] 6 countries in mainland Africa cancel the citizenships of passportholders/citizens who have not returned or travelled to those countries in the last 15 years or more, thereby imposing a blanket ban on "dormant citizenships". At least 3 Asian countries and 2 Arab nations indicate they too may follow suit.

The current 47th President decreed there will be "no federal tax on tips," do we have any viable sources that shows an executive order or otherwise that this has or has not taken effect yet? What would be the timeline on this? I know MANY executive orders were signed today (1/20/25) but I dont know If this was enacted, I also dont know how the future will be knowing that there was an executive order requiring all federal employees to return to the physical office for work, and that the IRS hiring has been paused, via executive order (by the way, do these all go into effect immediately? How do exec orders work? I know Birthright citizenship isnt immediate because its the 14th ammendment and thats a constitutional clause, but what about the other exec orders?)

The ACLU is suing the new administration to defend birthright citizenship and they will aim to protect the rights of immigrants in general.
Organizations fighting for civil rights like the ACLU need our financial support. I've cancelled a couple subscriptions so that I could re-allocate that money for monthly payments to the ACLU instead.
Also, if you still have money to spare, please donate to Wikipedia as well. Elon Musk has been taking aim at them for being too "woke" in December.

OK, firstly, for those that have been waiting, my apologies for this taking a little longer than initially mentioned. It has been a busy week at work. Also apologies also for the length of the post - it wouldn't be a ramble without a large surplus of words.
Second, and by way of a disclaimer, this post is written purely for "edutainment" purposes, and describes my own journey to minimise my NZ tax exposure both legally and ethically, by setting up an offshore entity in a "tax haven" whilst creating generational wealth for my descendants. It is not financial advice, you should get this from a professional. I am not one of those.
There's a TL:DR at the end. Scroll down if you're lazy or only slightly curious.
For those of you that didn't read my previous post, it was about US estate (death) tax, and how you could protect your legacy by putting your overseas market holdings into an irrevocable trust, so that Uncle Sam couldn't claim up to 40% of your holdings at the time of your death.
This post is about how I started with the process to avoid US death taxes, but ended up setting up an offshore investment entity in a tax advantaged jurisdiction so that I could actively invest in foreign equities, maximising returns while at the same time minimising my personal tax exposure here in NZ.
Everything I'm about to discuss is what I have done, for my own situation. It is both legal and doesn't evade tax in any way. I'll intentionally be a little vague in some areas to encourage you to get your own advice, as there are several ways to achieve what I have done. Plus, as mentioned, I'm not an expert - I pay others to set this up and manage it for me. Even my eyes gloss over from time to time when discussing matters with them. This therefore is a snapshot, a shortish (lol) view of a very long process that took almost a year to complete.
Further, this is for those with significant assets, and for those that want to actively trade and invest in foreign domiciled equities, funds etc, and are therefore subject to higher taxes on their endeavours. It's not something that will even begin to benefit you until your account size reaches well over 7 figures, as the cost of setting up together the annual cost of maintaining the entity are a factor.
You may be in your 40s or 50s with a business that you're looking to sell for your retirement and are wondering what to do with the proceeds. You may have a property portfolio that brings in a very healthy income which you are looking to liquidate for retirement. You may have both, as I have. Or you may just be in your 20s, wondering how this sh!t is done so you can effectively plan for your future. Either way, to achieve the most (or any) benefit from this, you will need a NW figure sufficient to make going through this process worthwhile.
If your entire portfolio is in NZ domiciled PIE funds and you're looking at a retirement nest egg of anything less than say $1.5 - $2m there will be little or no benefit to you, at least in the short term (although it could still benefit you in terms of getting you to the larger account sooner). Above $4m this starts to make real sense, and anything above $6+m I would definitely recommend exploring your options.
What this isn't about, is avoiding paying income tax on your income here in NZ. As they say, the only certainties in life are death and taxes. I pay tax on every dollar distributed to me as income and am happy to do so. However, as you will see, I legitimately pay far less tax compared to someone that has their entire portfolio domiciled in NZ (with some caveats and considerations).
So... having got that out of the way, let's dive in.
Back in the UK as a much younger man almost 40 years ago, I would sometimes wonder how the wealthy managed to pay significantly less tax than the average man in the street. I often read about their offshore "Tax Haven" bank accounts, their "Cayman Islands" investment companies, or their "Lichtenstein Trusts" and I assumed that these were purely the domain of the ultra wealthy. I wasn't entirely wrong, but as I was to discover decades later, they were a great deal more accessible than I had first imagined.
After having this thought swirling round my subconscious over the years, I finally reached the point in my journey through life where my net worth was such that I started to actively investigate the idea. The result below are the details of my "offshore tax haven" investment structure, in its three constituent parts:
1: An offshore (foreign) irrevocable family trust, domiciled in the Isle of Man in the UK. Although I was the original settlor (funder) of the trust and continue to fund it until I retire, I have transferred control of the trust to appointed professional trustees. When I retire and transfer the remaining of my capital to this trust I will relinquish my role as settlor. I am not the beneficiary of this trust (although I am a "discretionary beneficiary" that benefits from it). The combination of these things ensures that as far as either the US IRS or NZ IRD are concerned, the funds and investments held in the trust are no longer mine (and indeed they are not), and are therefore not part of my personal income or holdings. Why in the Isle of Man? Purely convenience, although it does have its own particular benefits, i.e lower cost than other UK offshore jurisdictions such as Jersey. I could have set up in the Cayman Islands, Dubai or any number of other tax advantaged jurisdictions, but for me as a UK citizen that used to travel back to the UK regularly while my parents were alive, this made sense purely from a convenience standpoint. There are quite a few other moving parts to this setup which I'll exclude here, or you'll be reading all night. If you decide to follow this path, your advisers will be able to assist you on the details.
2: There is an investment Company, owned by the family trust, whose job it is to invest the funds in the trust wisely, on behalf of future generations.
3: The trust has an independent board of trustees/directors both for the trust and investment company, whose job it is to administer the investment goals of the trust in accordance with the trust deed.
Ok... I know what you're thinking (f#ck me, that's a huge commitment). But it is more simple than it sounds at first reading (even if it's not cheap and has many steps that need to be taken).
First, setting up an irrevocable family trust in the Isle of Man wasn't much different or more expensive compared with setting one up here in New Zealand. If you estimate a similar amount of pounds as it costs here in dollars you won't be far wrong. Why an "Irrevocable Family Trust"? Because an irrevocable family trust permanently and irrevocably transfers the ownership of any of the assets that it contains away from myself and into the trust, with my children as the beneficiaries. Further, the trust is structured to be "perpetual" so that once I've passed, succession planning becomes easier, with my children's children becoming the beneficiaries, and my children becoming the discretionary beneficiaries.
Other costs in setting up the trust: Aside from the bare shell of the trust, you need a very comprehensive Trust Deed, which details exactly what the trust is for, who it is to benefit, who manages it and what their roles are, plus the method by which the investments are to be managed (how the money is invested, in what asset classes, investment goals regarding active vs passive investing, growth ETFs, dividend holdings etc etc). This costs a significant amount of money to get right, with (in my case) around half a dozen revisions, discussion with tax and trust experts in both Isle of Man and here in NZ, plus my lawyer. You could easily spend a further $20k+ on this. I did.
The Investment Company: A limited liability company owned by the family trust. The purpose of this is to hold brokerage accounts and invest in international equities, in line with the directives set out in the trust deed. In my case, this incudes long term growth portfolios, an income portfolio, a currency trading portfolio (for hedging) and a speculative account which can actively trade in more risky asset classes such as IPOs, early stage growth companies, etc. (This is just my structure but you could structure this any way you like, much in the way that you might have several portfolios yourself today). Crucially, the trust employs me as investment advisor and gives me the ability to manage the portfolios on behalf of (and in conjunction with) the trustees. This relationship between myself and the trustees is highly nuanced. I won't say more, but your trust/tax advisor will understand what I am alluding to here.
So, having done all that, what are the benefits, both for me personally, for the investment company, and for my children as beneficiaries?
I'll start with the investment company: Well, it operates in a jurisdiction that has no corporate or income tax on gains made on investments, whether they are considered long term capital gains or gains made from actively trading assets (unlike NZ...). All gains are tax free. If the investment company turns $7 million into $15 million, whichever way it achieves it, the tax bill is $0. (An exception is income generated from US domiciled funds such as VOO, SCHD or any dividend bearing holding, which are subject to US withholding tax on the income derived from dividend payments. UK income holdings however are zero rated in terms on income tax on dividends. Each country where an asset is domiciled will have its own tax laws which need to be adhered to).
The investment company actively invests in most asset classes, and following my advice, actively trades on equities which, had the investment fund been domiciled in NZ would be subject to tax on trading profits. These taxes are therefore avoided. Does this benefit me personally? Well no not directly, however, a faster growing investment fund allows greater distributions to me in the future, so I can still benefit from the gains. It also allows me the comfort of knowing that I'm building something that will greatly benefit future generations, in an environment where the growth is hugely tax advantaged.
For my children: Well obviously they will receive the benefit of investments that have grown tax free over a number of decades. They only pay tax on distributions made to them, and no tax on capital distributions, provided it is structured properly, per IRD rules. Distributions to beneficiaries in lower tax brackets (such as the trust paying for my daughter's university education for example, or buying her a new car). If you think 1% fees charged annually by private fund managers compounds like crazy over say 30 years, imagine what benefit the favourable tax jurisdiction provides over the same period on an account that's achieving a CAGR of say 15%...
For me: Distributions are passed from the trust in several ways. As an investment adviser to the trust, I am paid for my advice. I pay income tax on this here in NZ. This will essentially be my retirement "job". Capital distributions - for example, the trust buys $100k of Apple shares, sells them several years later by rebalancing the portfolio, this initial capital (not the gains) can be distributed tax free (provided that NZ tax laws are also adhered to). Gifting. This is more complicated, but there are avenues for the beneficiaries to gift distributions or capital returns to me. A lot of what I would traditionally be paying for is now managed by the trust (such as my daughter's education). Mind you, that also applies to me in many ways. I live in a house that no longer belongs to me, the maintenance of which, any renovation work and upkeep is all paid for by the trust also...
Setting the structure up to be compliant with NZ tax laws: Ok, so this is an area that I will be intentionally vague on. Not because I don't want to tell you, but because I really don't understand all the nuances myself. I'm not an expert. If you're interested in this, you will need to get your own advice.
However, some considerations that I can think of that you'll need to be aware of (and which you absolutely have to get right), amongst others are:
1: IRD will need to be shown that this trust exists not for your benefit, but for the benefit of future generations.
2: You will need to essentially give up any personal ownership of the assets contained in the trust. They are no longer yours - they will belong to the trust and are managed by trustees, even if under your guidance.
3: The trust needs to be structured in such a way that there is a genuine reason to be domiciled offshore, rather than purely existing to avoid NZ taxes. For example, to minimise currency fluctuations to the NZ dollar (being heavily invested in US, UK and other market equities), or to enable more efficient investing in multiple assets from various global markets. In my case it was also a benefit that my children have access to British citizenship, therefore part of the raison d'être for the trust is to support beneficiaries no matter where in the world they reside. You'll need advice on this as these are only the things I can remember were pertinent, and are definitely not the only things you might consider. There are other reasons that you can use.
4: You will need to ensure that you are fully compliant with NZ tax laws, as well as the tax laws of the jurisdiction where you establish your offshore entity. Everything needs to be very carefully documented and reported and NZ IRD needs to be informed of what you are doing. Needless to say, this is a minefield, and you need very specific advice on how to proceed. This can get expensive. It will get expensive. But, once done it's done.
Downsides: The entity, being domiciled in a jurisdiction that doesn't have reciprocal tax agreements with the US and other countries, will have to pay withholding tax on those holdings that generate income and are liable for this. Unlike New Zealand where we have a reciprocal tax agreement with the US where I can claim withholding tax back. It's a small downside for me, as withholding tax on dividends is far outweighed by the overall tax benefits for the lion's share of the portfolios.
It's somewhat of a shift in mindset - giving up ownership of all (or most) of your holdings and having someone else involved in the management of these assets (even if they are following your advice). As alluded to above, this external management can be structured in a way as to ensure that your own goals for the trust and its investments are still adhered to, but it does add a layer of administrative drag.
For example, I cannot suddenly decide to invest in a particular asset class that isn't already documented in the trust deed. Anything out of the ordinary needs to be discussed with the trustees to ensure that the investment aligns with the trust's goals and is in the best interest of the beneficiaries. If I suddenly decide I want to invest $500k into Bitcoin because it's going to the moooooon, I can expect significant kickback from the trustees and would have to convince them of the benefits of such a move. But... this isn't necessarily a bad thing. In all day to day investments, as long as they're aligned with the Trust's goals and solely for the benefit of the beneficiaries, and including broad investment strategies already detailed in the trust deed, I'm free to invest how I see fit.
Setup and management costs: All told, this cost me around $40,000 to set up, but has ongoing management costs also. This is why you need to be above a certain level for this to make sense. I have monthly minuted online meetings with the trustees (which they charge for), plus email communications (which they charge for), plus any phone calls or other online contact (which they charge for) plus the annual accounting fees, etc, etc. Some of these fees, such as the accountancy fees would be necessary in an NZ domiciled fund in any case, so it's not all additional to what I would be doing anyway.
So I think I have gone on long enough. I could continue for hours, but hopefully this gives you some insight. Is it for everyone? No, absolutely not. However, if you're looking at building intergenerational wealth and have the resources to do something similar it may well be worth considering.
Wrapping it all up (TL:DR) Actively investing a big account in overseas markets from NZ? That’s a tax buffet I don’t want second helpings of. Instead, I packed my wealth into an offshore trust, where it works hard for the next generation, tax-free as long as gains stay in the trust. I still pay my fair share on what comes back to me in NZ, because I like to keep IRD happy.
The real winners? My kids. They get turbocharged, tax advantaged growth, with distributions that even IRD can’t touch (capital ones, that is). If you’ve ever wondered how the wealthy keep their wallets fat while avoiding unnecessary tax, here’s one way they do it, both legally and ethically.